New gates to prevent fare evasion and upgrading ticket vending machines to distribute limited-use paper smart cards are two primary goals of $68 million in contacts awarded to Cubic Transportation Systems by the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

The first contract, a $46 million lease agreement, is for Cubic to install more than 420 fare gates as well as upgrade the ticket vending machines to distribute the limited use cards to all subway and selected light rail stations. The contracts complement Cubic’s current contract with Metro as its automated Universal Fare System (UFS) operated on TAP is being introduced in a phased rollout across the agency’s bus and rail networks and 10 other regional bus operators. When completed in 2009 it will be California’s largest 100% smart ticketing system for transit.

The Cubic-designed TAP system is based on Cubic’s Nextfare Solution Suite, a system of hardware and software components. The new fare gates will support both plastic smart cards and the limited use cards designed for occasional riders and tourists.

The addition of gating to the system on the Metro Red and Purple lines and selected light rail stations are designed to prevent fare evasion, improve system security and capture ridership data to enable Metro to enhance its services, such as the possible integration of bank cards and NFC-enabled cell phones as fare instruments. The new gates will also reduce the need for fare inspectors, giving Metro the flexibility to add law enforcement personnel as needed for security.

Two additional contracts totaling $22 million are to provide associated civil works and system maintenance. These contract awards continue Cubic’s nearly 25 years of service to Metro.